


A Rare Public Appearance

by katmarajade



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Bones is a Softie, M/M, Public Relations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-05
Updated: 2015-09-05
Packaged: 2018-04-19 02:31:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4729394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katmarajade/pseuds/katmarajade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Starfleet insists that Kirk attend yet another event. Bones, who hates that sort of PR nonsense, refuses to attend, but a picture he receives later that night causes him to reconsider.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Rare Public Appearance

The Starfleet Award Ceremony was a joke. A publicity stunt through and through, they wanted to march the charming Captain Kirk through a mess of diplomats, retirees, and donors. Young and handsome, he was their poster boy. 

Leonard was neither that young nor that handsome, and he had no intention of allowing even those big, blue, begging eyes to sway him. No, he would stay home and work on his never-ending pile of paperwork and perhaps pour himself a glass of the good bourbon; here on Earth he didn't have to ration it like he did when they were underway. 

When his communicator chirped, indicating a new message, Leonard couldn't help the swirl of emotion that overtook his belly. Pike had sent him a picture of Jim, gorgeous in his dapper civilian clothes. No one could say Jim wasn't charming and playing his part, but Leonard saw the empty look in his eyes. 

He'd laughed when Jim had asked him if he wanted to come with him to the ridiculous party. Honestly, he hadn't quite thought Jim serious. Their relationship, if that's what they were calling it—they hadn't quite gotten to the clarification stage yet—was still new, still quiet. 

But it was just plain _wrong_ for Jim to look that quiet, his usually glowing personality dulled. 

_Damnit, Jim,_ Leonard muttered. 

Less than half an hour later, dressed in the perfectly fitted suit that Jim had given him for the last pointless party he had refused to attend, Leonard strode into the building, growling fiercely, flashing his credentials, and making some truly outlandish medical claims in order to make it past three separate contingents of security officers. He briefly wondered what the punishment was for lying to crash a party full of Starfleet's finest, but his brain promptly shut up and stopped caring entirely when he met Jim's eyes. 

Blue eyes brightened, glowing and blazing and causing Leonard's chest to tighten in a wonderfully uncomfortable way. Nodding stiffly as three different Admirals swooped towards him, Leonard focused on Jim, whose smile was slow and disbelieving and _happy_.

The Admirals reached their target, pouncing on the rarely-seen-in-public Chief Medical Officer of their flagship and best friend of their public relations darling. Leonard _hated_ this sort of thing. 

But as he took in Jim's smile, bright and shining and _right_ , he knew it was worth it.


End file.
